The habit is especially beneficial for women.
Couples with similar drinking habits are happier than those where only one partner drinks.
Women who drink but whose partners abstain are particularly likely to be unsatisfied with their relationship.
In general, couples who both drank or both abstained were happier than others.
The study does not suggest that people should drink more or change how they drink.
The conclusion comes from a nationally representative sample of couples over 50.
It included 4,864 couples who answered questions about their drinking habits and the quality of their marriage.
The couples were married for an average of 33 years.
The results showed that in around half of the couples, both people drank.
Around 20% of men in the study were problem drinkers, along with 6% of women.
It may be that couples who share their leisure time activities with each other tend to be more satisfied with their relationship.
The study’s authors write:
“Findings are also consistent with compatibility theories of
marriage which suggest that couples who are similar tend to fare better.Studies have shown that couples who are concordant drinkers tend to report better relationship quality.
Homish and Leonard (2007) referred to concordant drinking in couples as a “drinking partnership” in which the shared activity of alcohol consumption is indicative of increased marital interactions, contributing to lower assessments of negative marital quality.
The study was published in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B (Birditt et al., 2018).
